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Nov 17, 2022 · Listen • 14:35. Courtesy WhinaNZFilm/Jen Raoult. / Facebook. Rena Owen as Whina Cooper in "Whina." New Zealand's film industry has been leading the way for the last 30 years when it comes to telling Indigenous stories on the big screen. During that time, actress Rena Owen has been one of the most recognizable Maori in the industry.
Actor Rena Owen found fame through her role as matriarch Beth Heke in hard-hitting feature film Once Were Warriors. She went on to spend two decades years in Los Angeles, though she returned to New Zealand to act in Vincent Ward 's Rain of the Children and Fiona Samuel 's TV movie Piece of My Heart. In this ScreenTalk, Owen talks about:
Written by James Lucas, James Napier Robertson and Paula Whetu Jones, and directed by Robertson and Jones, the film stars Rena Owen, Miriama McDowell and Tioreore Ngatai-Melbourne as Cooper in different stages of her life. Plot summary. The film chronicles the life of Whina Cooper as a Māori leader, wife and mother.
